Beyond Granite: Pulling Together Art Exhibit

Even though it was not ready for prime time, we drove down to the National mall for a morning walk and parked at the Tidal Basin. From there we were on the lookout for the art pieces that were being installed for the grand opening on Friday. It’s called Beyond Granite: Pulling Together and doesn’t look anything like the traditional flair on the Mall. I had read about the exhibit somewhere and wanted to see how far things were going. This is the first curated outdoor exhibition in the history of the National Mall. So we started at the Lincoln Memorial where the Marian Anderson statue was being constructed. Then we headed over past the Viet Nam Memorial and found the routes of southeast Asian refugees on a map of the world. Next up was the huge fingerprint with the names of the Crow nation chiefs who signed treaties with the US Government. This was located on the constitution gardens island. Then we walked over to the east side of the gardens to an interactive playground that reflects the story of desegregated public spaces. I asked the person setting it up if he was the artist. His reply was “I wish.” We didn’t make it to the two other pieces that are located further down the mall past the Washington Monument. But I’m sure we will have that opportunity over the next month. Usually there isn’t a lot of traffic around Constitution gardens which is why we like it so much. Hopefully it will stay that way in spite of this collection.